Bulk message deletion

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods are provided for deleting messages. The systems and methods include operations for: establishing, by a computing device, a communication session between a plurality of users; receiving a plurality of messages in the communication session; determining that a first message of the plurality of messages has been read by a first user of the plurality of users at a read time; in response to determining that the first message has been read by the first user at the read time, automatically associating the read time with a second of the plurality of messages that precedes the first message in the communication session; and automatically deleting the first and second messages in response to determining that an elapsed time measured from the read time associated with the first and second messages corresponds to a threshold time period.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/774,869, filed on Jan. 28, 2020, which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure generally relates to the technical field ofsocial networks. In particular, the present embodiments are generallydirected to managing message retention and deletion.

BACKGROUND

As the popularity of social networking grows, social networks areexpanding their capabilities. To improve ease of use, social networksare integrating more and more functions such that a user may accomplishmany or even most of their computer-based tasks within the socialnetwork itself. One vision of social networks is that they eventuallybecome a virtual operating system, from which a user seldom finds a needto remove themselves.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, like numeralsmay describe similar components in different views. To easily identifythe discussion of any particular element or act, the most significantdigit or digits in a reference number refer to the figure number inwhich that element is first introduced. Some embodiments are illustratedby way of example, and not limitation, in the figures of theaccompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating data which may be stored inthe database of a messaging server system, according to exampleembodiments.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a messagegenerated by a messaging client application for communication, accordingto example embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example message deletion system,according to example embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedeletion system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedeletion system, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 7 shows illustrative inputs and outputs of the message deletionsystem, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a representative softwarearchitecture, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described, according to example embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine able toread instructions from a machine-readable medium (e.g., amachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein, according to example embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The description that follows includes systems, methods, techniques,instruction sequences, and computing machine program products thatembody illustrative embodiments of the disclosure. In the followingdescription, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific detailsare set forth in order to provide an understanding of variousembodiments. It will be evident, however, to those skilled in the art,that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. Ingeneral, well-known instruction instances, protocols, structures, andtechniques are not necessarily shown in detail.

Often, users consume media content, and specifically videos, on theirmobile device. Such media content is typically exchanged in chatsessions between users and consumes a great deal of storage resources asvideos and images grow in resolution and size. As such, managing thestorage resources used to maintain the chat sessions has become of greatinterest. One way in which the storage resources are managed is byautomatic deletion of the messages on a periodic basis. While suchautomatic deletion generally works well, the automatic deletion isperformed on a message basis and consumes a great deal of overhead.Namely, the automatic deletion iterates through every message exchangedin the conversation to determine whether that message meets somedeletion criteria. Such iterations through the messages, when done forall the chat sessions managed by the system, can be extremely tediousand time consuming and requires dedicated processing resources.

The disclosed embodiments improve the efficiency of using the electronicdevice by providing a system that automatically deletes messages basedon message sent times and/or message read times on a bulk message basis.Specifically, the disclosed system automatically deletes a plurality ofmessages exchanged in a communication session based on a read time of agiven one of the plurality of messages. Namely, the disclosed systemdetermines that a given one of the plurality of messages has been readby a given user of the conversation session. In response, the disclosedsystem automatically associates prior messages received in theconversation session (those messages received before the given one ofthe plurality of messages) with the same read time. The disclosed systemthen employs a deletion policy which deletes messages within a thresholdperiod of time from when the messages are read. As an example, thedisclosed system deletes messages 24 hours after they are read. In thisway, after the given message is read by the given user, the givenmessage is deleted after the threshold period of time from when thegiven message was read along with the prior messages. In some cases,when messages are not read within a second threshold period of time,such as after 31 days, the messages are automatically deleted. Deletinga message removes access to the message for any participant or user ofthe conversation session including the user or participant who initiallysent the message. This way, when a recipient user reads a message, themessage (and all prior messages received in the conversation session) isdeleted for the recipient and the sender of the message in theconversation session after the threshold period of time from when themessage is read.

Rather than individually determining the read times for the priormessages, the disclosed system assumes that all the prior messages havebeen read at the same read time as the latest message that is read andassociates such prior messages with the same read time. This increasesthe efficiencies of the electronic device by reducing processing timesand storage resources needed to accomplish a task. In particular, by nothaving to track when each message in a conversation is read toautomatically delete such messages, bulk deletion of messages can beperformed more efficiently by assigning a bulk read time to all messagesbased on a read time of the last read message and deleting the messagesbased on the bulk read time. This reduces the device resources (e.g.,processor cycles, memory, and power usage) needed to accomplish a taskwith the device.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example messaging system 100 forexchanging data (e.g., messages and associated content) over a network106. The messaging system 100 includes multiple client devices 102, eachof which hosts a number of applications, including a messaging clientapplication 104 and a third-party application 105. Each messaging clientapplication 104 is communicatively coupled to other instances of themessaging client application 104, the third-party application 105, and amessaging server system 108 via a network 106 (e.g., the Internet).

Accordingly, each messaging client application 104 and third-partyapplication 105 is able to communicate and exchange data with anothermessaging client application 104 and third-party application(s) 105 andwith the messaging server system 108 via the network 106. The dataexchanged between messaging client applications 104, third-partyapplications 105, and the messaging server system 108 includes functions(e.g., commands to invoke functions) and payload data (e.g., text,audio, video, or other multimedia data). Any disclosed communicationsbetween the messaging client application 104 and the third-partyapplication(s) 105 can be transmitted directly from the messaging clientapplication 104 to the third-party application(s) 105 and/or indirectly(e.g., via one or more servers) from the messaging client application104 to the third-party application(s) 105.

The third-party application(s) 105 and the messaging client application104 are applications that include a set of functions that allow theclient device 102 to access a message deletion system 124. Thethird-party application 105 is an application that is separate anddistinct from the messaging client application 104. The third-partyapplication(s) 105 are downloaded and installed by the client device 102separately from the messaging client application 104. In someimplementations, the third-party application(s) 105 are downloaded andinstalled by the client device 102 before or after the messaging clientapplication 104 is downloaded and installed. The third-party application105 is an application that is provided by an entity or organization thatis different from the entity or organization that provides the messagingclient application 104. The third-party application 105 is anapplication that can be accessed by a client device 102 using separatelogin credentials than the messaging client application 104. Namely, thethird-party application 105 can maintain a first user account and themessaging client application 104 can maintain a second user account. Forexample, the third-party application 105 can be a social networkingapplication, a dating application, a ride or car sharing application, ashopping application, a trading application, a gaming application, or animaging application.

The messaging server system 108 provides server-side functionality viathe network 106 to a particular messaging client application 104. Whilecertain functions of the messaging system 100 are described herein asbeing performed by either a messaging client application 104 or by themessaging server system 108, it will be appreciated that the location ofcertain functionality either within the messaging client application 104or the messaging server system 108 is a design choice. For example, itmay be technically preferable to initially deploy certain technology andfunctionality within the messaging server system 108, but to latermigrate this technology and functionality to the messaging clientapplication 104 where a client device 102 has a sufficient processingcapacity.

The messaging server system 108 supports various services and operationsthat are provided to the messaging client application 104. Suchoperations include transmitting data to, receiving data from, andprocessing data generated by the messaging client application 104. Thisdata may include message content, client device information, geolocationinformation, media annotation and overlays, virtual objects, messagecontent persistence conditions, social network information, and liveevent information, as examples. Data exchanges within the messagingsystem 100 are invoked and controlled through functions available viauser interfaces (UIs) of the messaging client application 104.

Turning now specifically to the messaging server system 108, an APIserver 110 is coupled to, and provides a programmatic interface to, anapplication server 112. The application server 112 is communicativelycoupled to a database server 118, which facilitates access to a database120 in which is stored data associated with messages processed by theapplication server 112.

Dealing specifically with the API server 110, this server 110 receivesand transmits message data (e.g., commands and message payloads) betweenthe client device 102 and the application server 112. Specifically, theAPI server 110 provides a set of interfaces (e.g., routines andprotocols) that can be called or queried by the messaging clientapplication 104 and the third-party application 105 in order to invokefunctionality of the application server 112. The API server 110 exposesvarious functions supported by the application server 112, includingaccount registration; login functionality; the sending of messages, viathe application server 112, from a particular messaging clientapplication 104 to another messaging client application 104 orthird-party application 105; the sending of media files (e.g., images orvideo) from a messaging client application 104 to the messaging serverapplication 114, and for possible access by another messaging clientapplication 104 or third-party application 105; the setting of acollection of media data (e.g., story); the retrieval of suchcollections; the retrieval of a list of friends of a user of a clientdevice 102; the retrieval of messages and content; the adding anddeleting of friends to a social graph; the location of friends within asocial graph; access to user conversation data; access to avatarinformation stored on messaging server system 108; and opening anapplication event (e.g., relating to the messaging client application104).

The application server 112 hosts a number of applications andsubsystems, including a messaging server application 114, an imageprocessing system 116, a social network system 122, and the messagedeletion system 124. The messaging server application 114 implements anumber of message processing technologies and functions, particularlyrelated to the aggregation and other processing of content (e.g.,textual and multimedia content) included in messages received frommultiple instances of the messaging client application 104. As will bedescribed in further detail, the text and media content from multiplesources may be aggregated into collections of content (e.g., calledstories or galleries). These collections are then made available, by themessaging server application 114, to the messaging client application104. Other processor- and memory-intensive processing of data may alsobe performed server-side by the messaging server application 114, inview of the hardware requirements for such processing.

The application server 112 also includes an image processing system 116that is dedicated to performing various image processing operations,typically with respect to images or video received within the payload ofa message at the messaging server application 114. A portion of theimage processing system 116 may also be implemented by the messagedeletion system 124.

The social network system 122 supports various social networkingfunctions and services and makes these functions and services availableto the messaging server application 114. To this end, the social networksystem 122 maintains and accesses an entity graph within the database120. Examples of functions and services supported by the social networksystem 122 include the identification of other users of the messagingsystem 100 with which a particular user has relationships or is“following” and also the identification of other entities and interestsof a particular user. Such other users may be referred to as the user'sfriends. Social network system 122 may access location informationassociated with each of the user's friends to determine where they liveor are currently located geographically. Social network system 122 maymaintain a location profile for each of the user's friends indicatingthe geographical location where the user's friends live.

The message deletion system 124 manages storage and retention policiesfor messages exchanged in a communication session. For example, themessage deletion system 124 may determine when a given message is readby a recipient in a communication session. In response, the messagedeletion system 124 starts a timer for deleting the given message fromthe communication session. In some cases, the message deletion system124 deletes the given message and any message received prior to thegiven message in the communication session automatically when the timerreaches a threshold amount of time (e.g., after 24 hours). The messagedeletion system 124 stores messages that are received in theconversation session and automatically deletes the messages if they arenot read within 31 days from when they are received. This way, themessage deletion system 124 allows users in a conversation session toexchange messages with each other but may only allow the users to seethe messages in the conversation session for 24 hours after one or allof the users in the conversation session read the latest message or for31 days after the messages are received.

In some embodiments, the message deletion system 124 receives aplurality of messages directed to a second user from a first user in aconversation session. The message deletion system 124 stores themessages with an unread status indicator and also stores a timestampindicating when each message was received from the first user. Thesecond user may launch the messaging application to access theconversation session. In response, the messaging application of thesecond user's device sends a request to the message deletion system 124to receive messages that follow a certain timestamp. For example, thesecond user's device determines when the last time the messagingapplication was opened by the second user. The second user's devicerequests that the message deletion system 124 send to the second user'sdevice any message that was sent by the first user after that last timethe messaging application was opened by the second user. After thesecond user's device receives the messages sent by the first user, themessages are displayed in the conversation session on the messagingapplication to the second user. In some cases, only the last messagethat was sent by the first user is shown and the second user may scrollup to view previous messages sent by the first user.

Once the last message is displayed to the second user, the second user'sdevice records the read time of the last message. The second user'sdevice sends a notification to the message deletion system 124indicating the read time for the last message. In response to receivingthe notification, the message deletion system 124 stores the read timefor all of the messages stored in the message deletion system 124 thatare marked as unread (e.g., any message the does not currently have aread time stored). In this way, when the last message is read by thesecond user and regardless of whether the second user also reads priormessages that the second user's device receives, all the messagescurrently delivered to the second user are marked as read with the sameread time as the latest message the second user has viewed in theconversation session on the messaging application.

The server compares the current time to the read time of each messagethe message deletion system 124 stores. When the difference between thecurrent time and the read time corresponds to a threshold amount of time(e.g., reaches 24 hours), the message deletion system 124 automaticallydeletes the messages associated with that particular read time. In someembodiments, the message deletion system 124 compares the current timeonly to the oldest read time of the messages stored by the messagedeletion system 124. This way, the sever need not compare the currenttime to all of the read times continuously. Once the difference betweenthe read time of the oldest read message and the current timecorresponds to the threshold amount of time, the message deletion system124 traverses or iterates through other messages to identify a set ofmessages associated with the same read time. The message deletion system124 then automatically deletes all the messages that are associated withthe same read time.

In some embodiments, the message deletion system 124 starts a timer whena given message is read by a user of the conversation session. When thetimer reaches the threshold amount of time (e.g., 24 hours), the messagedeletion system 124 automatically deletes that message and any messagereceived prior to the given message.

In some embodiments, certain messages are marked as to be saved based onspecific input from a user or because the messages meet some criteria.In such cases, the message deletion system 124 avoids automaticallydeleting such messages even though the elapsed time since they have beenread exceeds the threshold amount time (e.g., messages that wouldautomatically be deleted after 24 hours from when they are read, areretained if the messages are marked to be saved).

In some embodiments, the message deletion system 124 compares the oldestreceive time of the messages exchanged in the conversation session tothe current time. In some cases, such messages are those that are markedas unread. When a difference between the oldest receive time and thecurrent time exceeds another threshold amount of time (e.g., exceeds 31days), the message deletion system 124 automatically deletes suchmessages that are unread. When messages are deleted, none of the usersor participants in the communication session (e.g., in the chat session)can view the contents of the messages.

The application server 112 is communicatively coupled to a databaseserver 118, which facilitates access to a database 120 in which isstored data associated with messages processed by the messaging serverapplication 114. Database 120 may be a third-party database. Forexample, the application server 112 may be associated with a firstentity, and the database 120 or a portion of the database 120 may beassociated with and hosted by a second, different entity. In someimplementations, database 120 stores user data that the first entitycollects about various each of the users of a service provided by thefirst entity. For example, the user data includes user names, passwords,addresses, friends, activity information, preferences, videos or contentconsumed by the user, and so forth.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram 200 illustrating data, which may be storedin the database 120 of the messaging server system 108, according tocertain example embodiments. While the content of the database 120 isshown to comprise a number of tables, it will be appreciated that thedata could be stored in other types of data structures (e.g., as anobject-oriented database).

The database 120 includes message data stored within a message table214. An entity table 202 stores entity data, including an entity graph204. Entities for which records are maintained within the entity table202 may include individuals, corporate entities, organizations, objects,places, events, and so forth. Regardless of type, any entity regardingwhich the messaging server system 108 stores data may be a recognizedentity. Each entity is provided with a unique identifier, as well as anentity type identifier (not shown).

The entity graph 204 stores information regarding relationships andassociations between entities. Such relationships may be social,professional (e.g., work at a common corporation or organization),interest-based, or activity-based, merely for example.

Message table 214 may store a collection of conversations between a userand one or more friends or entities. Message table 214 may includevarious attributes of each conversation, such as the list ofparticipants, the size of the conversation (e.g., number of users and/ornumber of messages), the chat color of the conversation, a uniqueidentifier for the conversation, and any other conversation relatedfeature(s).

The database 120 also stores annotation data, in the example form offilters, in an annotation table 212. Database 120 also stores annotatedcontent received in the annotation table 212. Filters for which data isstored within the annotation table 212 are associated with and appliedto videos (for which data is stored in a video table 210) and/or images(for which data is stored in an image table 208). Filters, in oneexample, are overlays that are displayed as overlaid on an image orvideo during presentation to a recipient user. Filters may be of varioustypes, including user-selected filters from a gallery of filterspresented to a sending user by the messaging client application 104 whenthe sending user is composing a message. Other types of filters includegeolocation filters (also known as geo-filters), which may be presentedto a sending user based on geographic location. For example, geolocationfilters specific to a neighborhood or special location may be presentedwithin a UI by the messaging client application 104, based ongeolocation information determined by a Global Positioning System (GPS)unit of the client device 102. Another type of filter is a data filter,which may be selectively presented to a sending user by the messagingclient application 104, based on other inputs or information gathered bythe client device 102 during the message creation process. Examples ofdata filters include current temperature at a specific location, acurrent speed at which a sending user is traveling, battery life for aclient device 102, or the current time.

Other annotation data that may be stored within the image table 208 isso-called “lens” data. A “lens” may be a real-time special effect andsound that may be added to an image or a video.

As mentioned above, the video table 210 stores video data which, in oneembodiment, is associated with messages for which records are maintainedwithin the message table 214. Similarly, the image table 208 storesimage data associated with messages for which message data is stored inthe entity table 202. The entity table 202 may associate variousannotations from the annotation table 212 with various images and videosstored in the image table 208 and the video table 210.

Message read time(s) 207 stores various information about messagesexchanged in a communication session. Such information includes whetherthe messages have been read or unread, the read time, the receive time,and so forth. Based on the message read time(s) 207 information, themessage deletion system 124 determines whether to automatically deletecertain messages in a communication session.

A story table 206 stores data regarding collections of messages andassociated image, video, or audio data, which are compiled into acollection (e.g., a story or a gallery). The creation of a particularcollection may be initiated by a particular user (e.g., each user forwhich a record is maintained in the entity table 202). A user may createa “personal story” in the form of a collection of content that has beencreated and sent/broadcast by that user. To this end, the UI of themessaging client application 104 may include an icon that isuser-selectable to enable a sending user to add specific content to hisor her personal story.

A collection may also constitute a “live story,” which is a collectionof content from multiple users that is created manually, automatically,or using a combination of manual and automatic techniques. For example,a “live story” may constitute a curated stream of user-submitted contentfrom various locations and events. Users whose client devices 102 havelocation services enabled and are at a common location event at aparticular time may, for example, be presented with an option, via a UIof the messaging client application 104, to contribute content to aparticular live story. The live story may be identified to the user bythe messaging client application 104 based on his or her location. Theend result is a “live story” told from a community perspective.

A further type of content collection is known as a “location story,”which enables a user whose client device 102 is located within aspecific geographic location (e.g., on a college or university campus)to contribute to a particular collection. In some embodiments, acontribution to a location story may require a second degree ofauthentication to verify that the end user belongs to a specificorganization or other entity (e.g., is a student on the universitycampus).

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a structure of a message 300,according to some embodiments, generated by a messaging clientapplication 104 for communication to a further messaging clientapplication 104 or the messaging server application 114. The content ofa particular message 300 is used to populate the message table 214stored within the database 120, accessible by the messaging serverapplication 114. Similarly, the content of a message 300 is stored inmemory as “in-transit” or “in-flight” data of the client device 102 orthe application server 112. The message 300 is shown to include thefollowing components:

-   A message identifier 302: a unique identifier that identifies the    message 300.-   A message text payload 304: text, to be generated by a user via a UI    of the client device 102 and that is included in the message 300.-   A message image payload 306: image data, captured by a camera    component of a client device 102 or retrieved from memory of a    client device 102, and that is included in the message 300.-   A message video payload 308: video data, captured by a camera    component or retrieved from a memory component of the client device    102 and that is included in the message 300.-   A message audio payload 310: audio data, captured by a microphone or    retrieved from the memory component of the client device 102, and    that is included in the message 300.-   Message annotations 312: annotation data (e.g., filters, stickers,    or other enhancements) that represents annotations to be applied to    message image payload 306, message video payload 308, or message    audio payload 310 of the message 300.-   A message duration parameter 314: parameter value indicating, in    seconds, the amount of time for which content of the message (e.g.,    the message image payload 306, message video payload 308, message    audio payload 310) is to be presented or made accessible to a user    via the messaging client application 104.-   A message geolocation parameter 316: geolocation data (e.g.,    latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates) associated with the    content payload of the message. Multiple message geolocation    parameter 316 values may be included in the payload, with each of    these parameter values being associated with respect to content    items included in the content (e.g., a specific image within the    message image payload 306, or a specific video in the message video    payload 308).-   A message story identifier 318: identifier value identifying one or    more content collections (e.g., “stories”) with which a particular    content item in the message image payload 306 of the message 300 is    associated. For example, multiple images within the message image    payload 306 may each be associated with multiple content collections    using identifier values.-   A message tag 320: each message 300 may be tagged with multiple    tags, each of which is indicative of the subject matter of content    included in the message payload. For example, where a particular    image included in the message image payload 306 depicts an animal    (e.g., a lion), a tag value may be included within the message tag    320 that is indicative of the relevant animal. Tag values may be    generated manually, based on user input, or may be automatically    generated using, for example, image recognition.-   A message sender identifier 322: an identifier (e.g., a messaging    system identifier, email address, or device identifier) indicative    of a user of the client device 102 on which the message 300 was    generated and from which the message 300 was sent.-   A message receiver identifier 324: an identifier (e.g., a messaging    system identifier, email address, or device identifier) indicative    of user(s) of the client device 102 to which the message 300 is    addressed. In the case of a conversation between multiple users, the    identifier may indicate each user involved in the conversation.

The contents (e.g., values) of the various components of message 300 maybe pointers to locations in tables within which content data values arestored. For example, an image value in the message image payload 306 maybe a pointer to (or address of) a location within an image table 208.Similarly, values within the message video payload 308 may point to datastored within a video table 210, values stored within the messageannotations 312 may point to data stored in an annotation table 212,values stored within the message story identifier 318 may point to datastored in a story table 206, and values stored within the message senderidentifier 322 and the message receiver identifier 324 may point to userrecords stored within an entity table 202.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example message deletion system124, according to example embodiments. Message deletion system 124includes a communication session module 414, a read detection module416, and a message deletion module 418. The communication session module414 enables users to engage in a communication session to exchangemessages with each other. In some cases, the communication sessionincludes a group of three or more users in which case any message sentby one user is viewable by the other two users in the group. In somecases, the communication session includes only two users where one usersends messages to another user and vice versa.

After initiating a communication session using the communication sessionmodule 414, messages are transferred between users of the communicationsession using the communication session module 414. For example, thecommunication session module 414 receives a message from a first user inthe communication session and marks the message for transmission to asecond user in the communication session. The communication sessionmodule 414 stores the message along with various information indicatingthe recipient, the communication session identifier, and the receivetime stamp. When the second user logs into the message application, thecommunication session module 414 receives an identifier of the seconduser and determines whether any messages that have not been deliveredyet to the second user and that are intended for the second user toreceive. In some cases, the communication session module 414 receives alast update timestamp from the second user. The communication sessionmodule 414 searches the receive time of all the messages that areintended for receipt by the second user. The communication sessionmodule 414 selects those messages that have a receive time that is laterthan the last update timestamp. The communication session module 414then sends all of the selected messages to the user device of the seconduser for presentation in the communication session of the message clientapplication 104.

The second user may open the communication session in the messagingclient application 104. Once a message is displayed in the communicationsession for the second user, the messaging client application 104 storesa read time for the message that is displayed. The messaging clientapplication 104 sends a notification to the read detection module 416with an identifier of the communication session and an identifier of themessage that has been read and the read time of the message. The readdetection module 416 then identifies all the messages that areassociated with the same communication session identifier that do nothave a read time associated with them. As an example, the read detectionmodule 416 identifies all the unread messages that are associated withthe communication session identifier received in the notification. Theread detection module 416 filters the identified unread messages forthose messages that have a receive time that precedes the receive timeof the message identified by the identifier received in thenotification. Namely, the read detection module 416 finds all themessages that were sent to the second user before the message that hasmost recently been read by the second user.

The read detection module 416 updates the read time associated with theidentified message received in the notification with the read timeindicated in the notification. The read detection module 416 alsosimultaneously or thereafter updates the read times associated with allthe filtered unread messages (or all the messages for which a read timeis not yet stored and which were received from the first user before themessage most recently read by the second user) with the same read timethat is indicated in the notification for the message most recently readby the second user. This way, once the second user reads a first messagein a communication session, all the messages that were sent to thesecond user from the first user before the first message are also markedas being read at the same time as the first message. In some cases, theread times are presented to the users in a display of the communicationsession (e.g., next to the contents of the messages and/or in a separatedisplay in response to receiving a user request to view the read times).

In some embodiments, the storage of a read time for one or more messagesin a communication session, initiates a deletion timer for the one ormore messages. Specifically, the message deletion module 418automatically deletes messages that have been read 24 hours after theyare read. Namely, once the deletion timer reaches a specified thresholdtime period (e.g., 24 hours), the message deletion module 418 deletesthe messages and removes them from the communication session. As anexample, message deletion module 418 compares the current time to theread time of each message of the communication session. When thedifference between the current time and the read time corresponds to athreshold amount of time (e.g., reaches 24 hours), the message deletionmodule 418 automatically deletes the messages associated with thatparticular read time.

In some embodiments, the message deletion module 418 compares thecurrent time only to the oldest read time of the messages that are inthe communication session. This way, the message deletion module 418need not compare the current time to all of the read times continuously.Once the difference between the read time of the oldest read message andthe current time corresponds to the threshold amount of time, themessage deletion module 418 traverses or iterates through other messagesto identify a set of messages associated with the same read time. Themessage deletion module 418 then automatically deletes all the messagesthat are associated with the same read time.

In some embodiments, certain messages are marked as to be saved based onspecific input from a user or because the messages meet some criteria.In such cases, the message deletion module 418 avoids automaticallydeleting such messages even though the elapsed time since they have beenread exceeds the threshold amount time (e.g., messages that wouldautomatically be deleted after 24 hours from when they are read, areretained if the messages are marked to be saved).

In some embodiments, the message deletion module 418 compares the oldestreceive time of the messages exchanged in the communication session tothe current time. In some cases, such messages are those that are markedas unread. When a difference between the oldest receive time and thecurrent time exceeds another threshold amount of time (e.g., exceeds 31days), the message deletion module 418 automatically deletes suchmessages that are unread. When messages are deleted, none of the usersor participants in the communication session (e.g., in the chat session)can view the contents of the messages. As such, the message deletionmodule 418 is configured to delete all prior messages received in acommunication session before a given message 24-hours after only thegiven message has been read by one or all participants in thecommunication session. Namely, a user need not read all of the messagesin the communication session to trigger the 24-hour deletion. Themessage deletion module 418 is also configured to delete any messagethat has been received in the communication session more than 31 daysago regardless of whether the message was read or not.

As an example, a recipient may receive 30 messages in a communicationsession. The recipient may read the 27^(th) message at a particular time(e.g., 7 AM) and may read the 22nd-26^(th) messages at a later time(e.g., 8 AM) than the particular time. However, because the 22nd-26^(th)messages were received prior to the 27^(th) message, they are associatedwith the same read time as the 27^(th) message (e.g., 7 AM). As such,the message deletion module 418 deletes messages 1-27 24 hours after the27^(th) message is read (e.g., messages 1-27 are deleted the next day at7 AM even though messages 22-26 were read at 8 AM on the previousday—less than 24 hours after the 27^(th) message was read). Messages28-30 which follow the 27^(th) message and which have not yet been read,are not automatically deleted until 24 hours after they are read by therecipient or 31 days after the time stamp of when they were receivedfrom a sender by the communication session.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedeletion system 124 in performing process 500, according to exampleembodiments. The process 500 may be embodied in computer-readableinstructions for execution by one or more processors such that theoperations of the process 500 may be performed in part or in whole bythe functional components of the messaging server system 108 and/orthird-party application 105; accordingly, the process 500 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherembodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 500 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations. The process 500 istherefore not intended to be limited to the messaging server system 108and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any other component.Some or all of the operations of process 500 can be in parallel, out oforder, or entirely omitted.

At operation 501, the message deletion system 124 establishes acommunication session between a plurality of users. For example, thecommunication session module 414 receives input from a first useroperating a first client device 102 to send a message to one or moreother users. In response, the communication session module 414establishes a chat session that provides a display to the first user andthe one or more other users for enabling the users to see messagesexchanged between the users and send messages to each other.

At operation 502, the message deletion system 124 receives a pluralityof messages in the communication session. For example, the communicationsession module 414 receives messages from the first user and/or the oneor more other users that are engaged in the communication session. Thefirst user can type in a message or multiple messages and send themessages in the communication session graphical user interface so theother users can see the messages. When the user sends the messages thecommunication session module 414 receives the messages and stores them.

At operation 503, the message deletion system 124 determines that afirst message of the plurality of messages has been read by a first userof the plurality of users at a read time. For example, the messagedeletion system 124 receives an indication (e.g., a read time) from auser device of the first user when the first user opens thecommunication session and views the first message (e.g., the lastmessage) that was exchanged or sent in the communication session by oneor more other participants or users in the communication session.

At operation 504, the message deletion system 124 automaticallyassociates the read time with a second of the plurality of messages thatprecedes the first message in the communication session. For example,the message deletion system 124 identifies a set of messages that haveearlier timestamps than the message that the user has read and that havealso not yet been read by the first user and assigns the same read timeas that which was assigned to the first message.

At operation 505, the message deletion system 124 automatically deletesthe first and second messages in response to determining that an elapsedtime measured from the read time associated with the first and secondmessages corresponds to a threshold time period. For example, when a24-hour period of time has elapsed since the read time associated withthe messages, the message deletion system 124 automatically deletes themessages associated with that read time.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating example operations of the messagedeletion system 124 in performing process 600, according to exampleembodiments. The process 600 may be embodied in computer-readableinstructions for execution by one or more processors such that theoperations of the process 600 may be performed in part or in whole bythe functional components of the messaging server system 108 and/orthird-party application 105; accordingly, the process 600 is describedbelow by way of example with reference thereto. However, in otherembodiments, at least some of the operations of the process 600 may bedeployed on various other hardware configurations. The process 600 istherefore not intended to be limited to the messaging server system 108and can be implemented in whole, or in part, by any other component.Some or all of the operations of process 600 can be in parallel, out oforder, or entirely omitted.

At operation 601, the message deletion system 124 determines a receivetime indicating when a message was received in a communication session.For example, the message deletion system 124 associates a timestamp witheach message that is received in the communication session indicatingwhen the message was received (or sent by another user in thecommunication session)

At operation 602, the message deletion system 124 detects that themessage was read by a recipient in the communication session. Forexample, the message deletion system 124 receives an indication (e.g., aread time) from a user device of the first user when the first useropens the communication session and views the first message (e.g., thelast message) that was exchanged or sent in the communication session byone or more other participants or users in the communication session.

At operation 603, the message deletion system 124 automatically deletesthe message after a first threshold time period from when the messagewas read. For example, when a 24-hour period of time has elapsed sincethe read time associated with the messages, the message deletion system124 automatically deletes the messages associated with that read time.

At operation 604, the message deletion system 124 detects that themessage was not read by the recipient within a second threshold timeperiod from when the message was received. For example, the messagedeletion system 124 determines that the timestamp of a given message ismore than 31 days old (e.g., the timestamp exceeds a 31 day period oftime). The message deletion system 124 may continuously or periodicallyprocess the receive timestamps of messages that are exchanged in thecommunication session to identify messages that have been received morethan 31 days earlier than the present time.

At operation 605, the message deletion system 124 automatically deletesthe message after the second threshold time period from when the messagewas received. For example, the message deletion system 124 automaticallydeletes any message that was received more than 31 days before thecurrent time regardless of whether that message was read or not.

FIG. 7 includes illustrative inputs and outputs of the message deletionsystem 124, according to example embodiments. The message deletionsystem 124 causes presentation of a graphical user interface 710 on amessaging client application 104. The graphical user interface 710includes a display of messages that are part of a communication sessionbetween multiple users (e.g., John, Mark and Jennifer). The graphicaluser interface 710 is presented to given user 714 (e.g., Jennifer). Thegraphical user interface 710 indicates the read time 716 for eachmessage indicating when the given user 714 has read the messages. Insome cases, once the given user 714 logs in and downloads the messagesthat are part of the communication session (e.g., at 9:41 AM), thelatest message is automatically presented to the given user 714. Thegiven user 714 can scroll up to view earlier messages. Even though theearlier messages are not viewed at the same time as the latest message(e.g., the given user 714 scrolls up to view the earlier messages at alater time), all the messages are associated with the same read time(e.g., 9:41 AM) as the time at which the latest message was read by thegiven user 714. A notification 720 is presented to the given user 714indicating the deletion policy (e.g., the messages are deletedautomatically 24 hours after they are read or 31 days after they aresent regardless of when they are read or if they are read at all). Inthis case, the messages presented in the communication session and allprior messages to those presented in the communication session will beautomatically deleted 24 hours after 9:41 AM (e.g., the next day at 9:41AM).

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example software architecture806, which may be used in conjunction with various hardwarearchitectures herein described. FIG. 8 is a non-limiting example of asoftware architecture and it will be appreciated that many otherarchitectures may be implemented to facilitate the functionalitydescribed herein. The software architecture 806 may execute on hardwaresuch as machine 900 of FIG. 9 that includes, among other things,processors 904, memory 914, and input/output (I/O) components 918. Arepresentative hardware layer 852 is illustrated and can represent, forexample, the machine 900 of FIG. 9. The representative hardware layer852 includes a processing unit 854 having associated executableinstructions 804. Executable instructions 804 represent the executableinstructions of the software architecture 806, including implementationof the methods, components, and so forth described herein. The hardwarelayer 852 also includes memory and/or storage modules memory/storage856, which also have executable instructions 804. The hardware layer 852may also comprise other hardware 858.

In the example architecture of FIG. 8, the software architecture 806 maybe conceptualized as a stack of layers where each layer providesparticular functionality. For example, the software architecture 806 mayinclude layers such as an operating system 802, libraries 820,frameworks/middleware 818, applications 816, and a presentation layer814. Operationally, the applications 816 and/or other components withinthe layers may invoke API calls 808 through the software stack andreceive messages 812 in response to the API calls 808. The layersillustrated are representative in nature and not all softwarearchitectures have all layers. For example, some mobile or specialpurpose operating systems may not provide a frameworks/middleware 818,while others may provide such a layer. Other software architectures mayinclude additional or different layers.

The operating system 802 may manage hardware resources and providecommon services. The operating system 802 may include, for example, akernel 822, services 824, and drivers 826. The kernel 822 may act as anabstraction layer between the hardware and the other software layers.For example, the kernel 822 may be responsible for memory management,processor management (e.g., scheduling), component management,networking, security settings, and so on. The services 824 may provideother common services for the other software layers. The drivers 826 areresponsible for controlling or interfacing with the underlying hardware.For instance, the drivers 826 include display drivers, camera drivers,Bluetooth® drivers, flash memory drivers, serial communication drivers(e.g., Universal Serial Bus (USB) drivers), Wi-Fi® drivers, audiodrivers, power management drivers, and so forth depending on thehardware configuration.

The libraries 820 provide a common infrastructure that is used by theapplications 816 and/or other components and/or layers. The libraries820 provide functionality that allows other software components toperform tasks in an easier fashion than to interface directly with theunderlying operating system 802 functionality (e.g., kernel 822,services 824 and/or drivers 826). The libraries 820 may include systemlibraries 844 (e.g., C standard library) that may provide functions suchas memory allocation functions, string manipulation functions,mathematical functions, and the like. In addition, the libraries 820 mayinclude API libraries 846 such as media libraries (e.g., libraries tosupport presentation and manipulation of various media format such asMPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG), graphics libraries (e.g., anOpenGL framework that may be used to render two-dimensional andthree-dimensional in a graphic content on a display), database libraries(e.g., SQLite that may provide various relational database functions),web libraries (e.g., WebKit that may provide web browsingfunctionality), and the like. The libraries 820 may also include a widevariety of other libraries 848 to provide many other APIs to theapplications 816 and other software components/modules.

The frameworks/middleware 818 (also sometimes referred to as middleware)provide a higher-level common infrastructure that may be used by theapplications 816 and/or other software components/modules. For example,the frameworks/middleware 818 may provide various graphical userinterface functions, high-level resource management, high-level locationservices, and so forth. The frameworks/middleware 818 may provide abroad spectrum of other APIs that may be utilized by the applications816 and/or other software components/modules, some of which may bespecific to a particular operating system 802 or platform.

The applications 816 include built-in applications 838 and/orthird-party applications 840. Examples of representative built-inapplications 838 may include, but are not limited to, a contactsapplication, a browser application, a book reader application, alocation application, a media application, a messaging application,and/or a game application. Third-party applications 840 may include anapplication developed using the ANDROID™ or IOS™ software developmentkit (SDK) by an entity other than the vendor of the particular platform,and may be mobile software running on a mobile operating system such asIOS™, ANDROID™, WINDOWS® Phone, or other mobile operating systems. Thethird-party applications 840 may invoke the API calls 808 provided bythe mobile operating system (such as operating system 802) to facilitatefunctionality described herein.

The applications 816 may use built-in operating system functions (e.g.,kernel 822, services 824, and/or drivers 826), libraries 820, andframeworks/middleware 818 to create UIs to interact with users of thesystem. Alternatively, or additionally, in some systems, interactionswith a user may occur through a presentation layer, such as presentationlayer 814. In these systems, the application/component “logic” can beseparated from the aspects of the application/component that interactwith a user.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating components of a machine 900,according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable medium (e.g., a machine-readable storage medium) andperform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.Specifically, FIG. 9 shows a diagrammatic representation of the machine900 in the example form of a computer system, within which instructions910 (e.g., software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, orother executable code) for causing the machine 900 to perform any one ormore of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. As such, theinstructions 910 may be used to implement modules or componentsdescribed herein. The instructions 910 transform the general,non-programmed machine 900 into a particular machine 900 programmed tocarry out the described and illustrated functions in the mannerdescribed. In alternative embodiments, the machine 900 operates as astandalone device or may be coupled (e.g., networked) to other machines.In a networked deployment, the machine 900 may operate in the capacityof a server machine or a client machine in a server-client networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. The machine 900 may comprise, but not be limitedto, a server computer, a client computer, a personal computer (PC), atablet computer, a laptop computer, a netbook, a set-top box (STB), apersonal digital assistant (PDA), an entertainment media system, acellular telephone, a smart phone, a mobile device, a wearable device(e.g., a smart watch), a smart home device (e.g., a smart appliance),other smart devices, a web appliance, a network router, a networkswitch, a network bridge, or any machine capable of executing theinstructions 910, sequentially or otherwise, that specify actions to betaken by machine 900. Further, while only a single machine 900 isillustrated, the term “machine” shall also be taken to include acollection of machines that individually or jointly execute theinstructions 910 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein.

The machine 900 may include processors 904, memory/storage 906, and I/Ocomponents 918, which may be configured to communicate with each othersuch as via a bus 902. In an example embodiment, the processors 904(e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction setcomputing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC)processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor(DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), aradio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or anysuitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 908and a processor 912 that may execute the instructions 910. The term“processor” is intended to include multi-core processors 904 that maycomprise two or more independent processors (sometimes referred to as“cores”) that may execute instructions 910 contemporaneously. AlthoughFIG. 9 shows multiple processors 904, the machine 900 may include asingle processor 908 with a single core, a single processor 908 withmultiple cores (e.g., a multi-core processor), multiple processors 908,912 with a single core, multiple processors 908, 912 with multiplecores, or any combination thereof.

The memory/storage 906 may include a memory 914, such as a main memory,or other memory storage, and a storage unit 916, both accessible to theprocessors 904 such as via the bus 902. The storage unit 916 and memory914 store the instructions 910 embodying any one or more of themethodologies or functions described herein. The instructions 910 mayalso reside, completely or partially, within the memory 914, within thestorage unit 916, within at least one of the processors 904 (e.g.,within the processor's cache memory), or any suitable combinationthereof, during execution thereof by the machine 900. Accordingly, thememory 914, the storage unit 916, and the memory of processors 904 areexamples of machine-readable media.

The I/O components 918 may include a wide variety of components toreceive input, provide output, produce output, transmit information,exchange information, capture measurements, and so on. The specific I/Ocomponents 918 that are included in a particular machine 900 will dependon the type of machine. For example, portable machines such as mobilephones will likely include a touch input device or other such inputmechanisms, while a headless server machine will likely not include sucha touch input device. It will be appreciated that the I/O components 918may include many other components that are not shown in FIG. 9. The I/Ocomponents 918 are grouped according to functionality merely forsimplifying the following discussion and the grouping is in no waylimiting. In various example embodiments, the I/O components 918 mayinclude output components 926 and input components 928. The outputcomponents 926 may include visual components (e.g., a display such as aplasma display panel (PDP), a light emitting diode (LED) display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a projector, or a cathode ray tube (CRT)),acoustic components (e.g., speakers), haptic components (e.g., avibratory motor, resistance mechanisms), other signal generators, and soforth. The input components 928 may include alphanumeric inputcomponents (e.g., a keyboard, a touch screen configured to receivealphanumeric input, a photo-optical keyboard, or other alphanumericinput components), point-based input components (e.g., a mouse, atouchpad, a trackball, a joystick, a motion sensor, or other pointinginstrument), tactile input components (e.g., a physical button, a touchscreen that provides location and/or force of touches or touch gestures,or other tactile input components), audio input components (e.g., amicrophone), and the like.

In further example embodiments, the I/O components 918 may includebiometric components 939, motion components 934, environmentalcomponents 936, or position components 938 among a wide array of othercomponents. For example, the biometric components 939 may includecomponents to detect expressions (e.g., hand expressions, facialexpressions, vocal expressions, body gestures, or eye tracking), measurebiosignals (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature,perspiration, or brain waves), identify a person (e.g., voiceidentification, retinal identification, facial identification,fingerprint identification, or electroencephalogram basedidentification), and the like. The motion components 934 may includeacceleration sensor components (e.g., accelerometer), gravitation sensorcomponents, rotation sensor components (e.g., gyroscope), and so forth.The environmental components 936 may include, for example, illuminationsensor components (e.g., photometer), temperature sensor components(e.g., one or more thermometer that detect ambient temperature),humidity sensor components, pressure sensor components (e.g.,barometer), acoustic sensor components (e.g., one or more microphonesthat detect background noise), proximity sensor components (e.g.,infrared sensors that detect nearby objects), gas sensors (e.g., gasdetection sensors to detection concentrations of hazardous gases forsafety or to measure pollutants in the atmosphere), or other componentsthat may provide indications, measurements, or signals corresponding toa surrounding physical environment. The position components 938 mayinclude location sensor components (e.g., a GPS receiver component),altitude sensor components (e.g., altimeters or barometers that detectair pressure from which altitude may be derived), orientation sensorcomponents (e.g., magnetometers), and the like.

Communication may be implemented using a wide variety of technologies.The I/O components 918 may include communication components 940 operableto couple the machine 900 to a network 937 or devices 929 via coupling924 and coupling 922, respectively. For example, the communicationcomponents 940 may include a network interface component or othersuitable device to interface with the network 937. In further examples,communication components 940 may include wired communication components,wireless communication components, cellular communication components,near field communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth® components (e.g.,Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communicationcomponents to provide communication via other modalities. The devices929 may be another machine 900 or any of a wide variety of peripheraldevices (e.g., a peripheral device coupled via a USB).

Moreover, the communication components 940 may detect identifiers orinclude components operable to detect identifiers. For example, thecommunication components 940 may include radio frequency identification(RFID) tag reader components, NFC smart tag detection components,optical reader components (e.g., an optical sensor to detectone-dimensional bar codes such as Universal Product Code (UPC) bar code,multi-dimensional bar codes such as Quick Response (QR) code, Azteccode, Data Matrix, Dataglyph, MaxiCode, PDF417, Ultra Code, UCC RSS-2Dbar code, and other optical codes), or acoustic detection components(e.g., microphones to identify tagged audio signals). In addition, avariety of information may be derived via the communication components940, such as location via Internet Protocol (IP) geo-location, locationvia Wi-Fi® signal triangulation, location via detecting a NFC beaconsignal that may indicate a particular location, and so forth.

Glossary:

“CARRIER SIGNAL,” in this context, refers to any intangible medium thatis capable of storing, encoding, or carrying transitory ornon-transitory instructions 910 for execution by the machine 900, andincludes digital or analog communications signals or other intangiblemedium to facilitate communication of such instructions 910.Instructions 910 may be transmitted or received over the network 106using a transitory or non-transitory transmission medium via a networkinterface device and using any one of a number of well-known transferprotocols.

“CLIENT DEVICE,” in this context, refers to any machine 900 thatinterfaces to a communications network 106 to obtain resources from oneor more server systems or other client devices 102. A client device 102may be, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, desktop computer, laptop,PDAs, smart phones, tablets, ultra books, netbooks, laptops,multi-processor systems, microprocessor-based or programmable consumerelectronics, game consoles, set-top boxes, or any other communicationdevice that a user may use to access a network 106.

“COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK,” in this context, refers to one or moreportions of a network 106 that may be an ad hoc network, an intranet, anextranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), awireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), ametropolitan area network (MAN), the Internet, a portion of theInternet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), aplain old telephone service (POTS) network, a cellular telephonenetwork, a wireless network, a Wi-Fi® network, another type of network,or a combination of two or more such networks. For example, a network106 or a portion of a network may include a wireless or cellular networkand the coupling may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)connection, a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) connection,or other type of cellular or wireless coupling. In this example, thecoupling may implement any of a variety of types of data transfertechnology, such as Single Carrier Radio Transmission Technology(1xRTT), Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO) technology, General PacketRadio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution(EDGE) technology, third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) including3G, fourth generation wireless (4G) networks, Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA),Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), Long TermEvolution (LTE) standard, others defined by various standard settingorganizations, other long range protocols, or other data transfertechnology.

“EPHEMERAL MESSAGE,” in this context, refers to a message 300 that isaccessible for a time-limited duration. An ephemeral message may be atext, an image, a video, and the like. The access time for the ephemeralmessage may be set by the message sender. Alternatively, the access timemay be a default setting or a setting specified by the recipient.Regardless of the setting technique, the message 300 is transitory.

“MACHINE-READABLE MEDIUM,” in this context, refers to a component,device, or other tangible media able to store instructions 910 and datatemporarily or permanently and may include, but is not limited to,random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), buffer memory, flashmemory, optical media, magnetic media, cache memory, other types ofstorage (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM)) and/orany suitable combination thereof. The term “machine-readable medium”should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., acentralized or distributed database, or associated caches and servers)able to store instructions 910. The term “machine-readable medium” shallalso be taken to include any medium, or combination of multiple media,that is capable of storing instructions 910 (e.g., code) for executionby a machine 900, such that the instructions 910, when executed by oneor more processors 904 of the machine 900, cause the machine 900 toperform any one or more of the methodologies described herein.Accordingly, a “machine-readable medium” refers to a single storageapparatus or device, as well as “cloud-based” storage systems or storagenetworks that include multiple storage apparatus or devices. The term“machine-readable medium” excludes signals per se.

“COMPONENT,” in this context, refers to a device, physical entity, orlogic having boundaries defined by function or subroutine calls, branchpoints, APIs, or other technologies that provide for the partitioning ormodularization of particular processing or control functions. Componentsmay be combined via their interfaces with other components to carry outa machine process. A component may be a packaged functional hardwareunit designed for use with other components and a part of a program thatusually performs a particular function of related functions. Componentsmay constitute either software components (e.g., code embodied on amachine-readable medium) or hardware components. A “hardware component”is a tangible unit capable of performing certain operations and may beconfigured or arranged in a certain physical manner. In various exampleembodiments, one or more computer systems (e.g., a standalone computersystem, a client computer system, or a server computer system) or one ormore hardware components of a computer system (e.g., a processor or agroup of processors) may be configured by software (e.g., an applicationor application portion) as a hardware component that operates to performcertain operations as described herein.

A hardware component may also be implemented mechanically,electronically, or any suitable combination thereof. For example, ahardware component may include dedicated circuitry or logic that ispermanently configured to perform certain operations. A hardwarecomponent may be a special-purpose processor, such as afield-programmable gate array (FPGA) or an ASIC. A hardware componentmay also include programmable logic or circuitry that is temporarilyconfigured by software to perform certain operations. For example, ahardware component may include software executed by a general-purposeprocessor 908 or other programmable processor. Once configured by suchsoftware, hardware components become specific machines (or specificcomponents of a machine 900) uniquely tailored to perform the configuredfunctions and are no longer general-purpose processors 908. It will beappreciated that the decision to implement a hardware componentmechanically, in dedicated and permanently configured circuitry, or intemporarily configured circuitry (e.g., configured by software) may bedriven by cost and time considerations. Accordingly, the phrase“hardware component”(or “hardware-implemented component”) should beunderstood to encompass a tangible entity, be that an entity that isphysically constructed, permanently configured (e.g., hardwired), ortemporarily configured (e.g., programmed) to operate in a certain manneror to perform certain operations described herein. Consideringembodiments in which hardware components are temporarily configured(e.g., programmed), each of the hardware components need not beconfigured or instantiated at any one instance in time. For example,where a hardware component comprises a general-purpose processor 908configured by software to become a special-purpose processor, thegeneral-purpose processor 908 may be configured as respectivelydifferent special-purpose processors (e.g., comprising differenthardware components) at different times. Software accordingly configuresa particular processor 908 or processors 904, for example, to constitutea particular hardware component at one instance of time and toconstitute a different hardware component at a different instance oftime.

Hardware components can provide information to, and receive informationfrom, other hardware components. Accordingly, the described hardwarecomponents may be regarded as being communicatively coupled. Wheremultiple hardware components exist contemporaneously, communications maybe achieved through signal transmission (e.g., over appropriate circuitsand buses) between or among two or more of the hardware components. Inembodiments in which multiple hardware components are configured orinstantiated at different times, communications between such hardwarecomponents may be achieved, for example, through the storage andretrieval of information in memory structures to which the multiplehardware components have access. For example, one hardware component mayperform an operation and store the output of that operation in a memorydevice to which it is communicatively coupled. A further hardwarecomponent may then, at a later time, access the memory device toretrieve and process the stored output.

Hardware components may also initiate communications with input oroutput devices, and can operate on a resource (e.g., a collection ofinformation). The various operations of example methods described hereinmay be performed, at least partially, by one or more processors 904 thatare temporarily configured (e.g., by software) or permanently configuredto perform the relevant operations. Whether temporarily or permanentlyconfigured, such processors 904 may constitute processor-implementedcomponents that operate to perform one or more operations or functionsdescribed herein. As used herein, “processor-implemented component”refers to a hardware component implemented using one or more processors904. Similarly, the methods described herein may be at least partiallyprocessor-implemented, with a particular processor 908 or processors 904being an example of hardware. For example, at least some of theoperations of a method may be performed by one or more processors 904 orprocessor-implemented components. Moreover, the one or more processors904 may also operate to support performance of the relevant operationsin a “cloud computing” environment or as a “software as a service”(SaaS). For example, at least some of the operations may be performed bya group of computers (as examples of machines 900 including processors904), with these operations being accessible via a network 106 (e.g.,the Internet) and via one or more appropriate interfaces (e.g., an API).The performance of certain of the operations may be distributed amongthe processors, not only residing within a single machine 900, butdeployed across a number of machines. In some example embodiments, theprocessors 904 or processor-implemented components may be located in asingle geographic location (e.g., within a home environment, an officeenvironment, or a server farm). In other example embodiments, theprocessors 904 or processor-implemented components may be distributedacross a number of geographic locations.

“PROCESSOR,” in this context, refers to any circuit or virtual circuit(a physical circuit emulated by logic executing on an actual processor908) that manipulates data values according to control signals (e.g.,“commands,” “op codes,” “machine code,” etc.) and which producescorresponding output signals that are applied to operate a machine 900.A processor 908 may, for example, be a CPU, a RISC processor, a CISCprocessor, a GPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a RFIC or any combination thereof. Aprocessor 908 may further be a multi-core processor having two or moreindependent processors 904 (sometimes referred to as “cores”) that mayexecute instructions 910 contemporaneously.

“TIMESTAMP,” in this context, refers to a sequence of characters orencoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, forexample giving date and time of day, sometimes accurate to a smallfraction of a second.

Changes and modifications may be made to the disclosed embodimentswithout departing from the scope of the present disclosure. These andother changes or modifications are intended to be included within thescope of the present disclosure, as expressed in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: determining a receive timeindicating when a message was received in a communication session; andautomatically deleting the message based on a read time or the receivetime associated with the message, the automatically deleting comprising:automatically deleting the message after a first threshold time periodfrom when the message was read by a recipient in the communicationsession; and automatically deleting the message after a second thresholdtime period from the receive time when the message was received by therecipient in the communication session.
 2. The method of claim 1,further comprising: establishing the communication session between aplurality of users comprising the recipient; receiving a plurality ofmessages in the communication session comprising the message;determining that a first message of the plurality of messages has beenread by a first user of the plurality of users at a given read time; andin response to determining that the first message has been read by thefirst user at the given read time, automatically associating the readtime with a second of the plurality of messages that precedes the firstmessage in the communication session.
 3. The method of claim 2, furthercomprising: automatically deleting the first and second messages inresponse to determining that an elapsed time measured from the givenread time associated with the first and second messages corresponds tothe first threshold time period.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein thesecond threshold time period is longer than the first threshold timeperiod.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the first threshold timeperiod is 24 hours, and the second threshold time period is 31 days. 6.The method of claim 1, further comprising: initiating a timer when themessage is read by the recipient; determining when the timer reaches thefirst threshold time period; and in response to determining that thetimer has reached the first threshold time period, automaticallydeleting the first message and one or more messages including a secondmessage received prior to the message.
 7. The method of claim 1, whereinthe message was sent by a user, and wherein automatically deleting themessage comprises removing the message from the communication session tomake the message inaccessible to a plurality of users including the userand the recipient.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: storingthe message on a server in association with the communication session;sending the message to a messaging application implemented on a clientdevice of the recipient; detecting that the recipient has opened thecommunication session in the messaging application on the client device;causing the message to be displayed in the communication session thathas been opened in the messaging application on the client device; andreceiving a notification by the server indicating that the message hasbeen read by the recipient in response to displaying the message, thenotification comprising the read time.
 9. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising: receiving the notification by the server indicating that themessage has been read; identifying a set of messages including a secondmessage that has been received in the communication session before themessage; and storing the read time included in the notification witheach message in the set of messages.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinthe message is deleted after the second threshold time period inresponse to determining that the message has not been read by therecipient.
 11. A system comprising: a processor configured to performoperations comprising: determining a receive time indicating when amessage was received in a communication session; and automaticallydeleting the message based on a read time or the receive time associatedwith the message, the automatically deleting comprising: automaticallydeleting the message after a first threshold time period from when themessage was read by a recipient in the communication session; andautomatically deleting the message after a second threshold time periodfrom the receive time when the message was received by the recipient inthe communication session.
 12. The system of claim 11, the operationsfurther comprising: establishing the communication session between aplurality of users comprising the recipient; receiving a plurality ofmessages in the communication session comprising the message;determining that a first message of the plurality of messages has beenread by a first user of the plurality of users at a given read time; andin response to determining that the first message has been read by thefirst user at the given read time, automatically associating the readtime with a second of the plurality of messages that precedes the firstmessage in the communication session.
 13. The system of claim 12, theoperations further comprising automatically deleting the first andsecond messages in response to determining that an elapsed time measuredfrom the given read time associated with the first and second messagescorresponds to the first threshold time period.
 14. The system of claim11, wherein the second threshold time period is longer than the firstthreshold time period.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein the firstthreshold time period is 24 hours, and the second threshold time periodis 31 days.
 16. The system of claim 11, the operations furthercomprising: initiating a timer when the message is read by therecipient; determining when the timer reaches the first threshold timeperiod; and in response to determining that the timer has reached thefirst threshold time period, automatically deleting the message and oneor more messages including a second message received prior to themessage.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the message was sent by auser, and wherein automatically deleting the message comprises removingthe message from the communication session to make the messageinaccessible to a plurality of users including the user and therecipient.
 18. The system of claim 11, wherein the message is deletedafter the second threshold time period in response to determining thatthe message has not been read by the recipient.
 19. The system of claim11, the operations further comprising: storing the message on a serverin association with the communication session; sending the message to amessaging application implemented on a client device of the recipient;detecting that the recipient has opened the communication session in themessaging application on the client device; causing the message to bedisplayed in the communication session that has been opened in themessaging application on the client device; and receiving a notificationby the server indicating that the message has been read by the recipientin response to displaying the message, the notification comprising theread time.
 20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium thatincludes instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of amachine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising: determininga receive time indicating when a message was received in a communicationsession; and automatically deleting the message based on a read time orthe receive time associated with the message, the automatically deletingcomprising: automatically deleting the message after a first thresholdtime period from when the message was read by a recipient in thecommunication session; and automatically deleting the message after asecond threshold time period from the receive time when the message wasreceived by the recipient in the communication session.